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Environmental expertise in action

Regulation on exhaust emissions in European waters and beyond poses challenges for fleet owners. The integration of Hamworthy’s expertise into the company’s portfolio has provided Wärtsilä with a significant edge in this area.

This clear competitive advantage bore fruit in February with the advent of an order from the Korean shipyard STX Offshore & Shipbuilding. Wärtsilä was contracted to supply exhaust gas cleaning systems for four new Container Ro/Ro vessels being built for Ignazio Messina & Co, the Italy-based ship owner.

Helping Messina meet exhaust gas limits

Messina already operates four Ro/Ro vessels, each equipped with five Wärtsilä Hamworthy exhaust gas cleaning units; this repeat order further enables their fleet to comply with both current and pending environmental legislation on exhaust emissions. For ships sailing in European waters, the maximum sulphur content will be limited to 0.5% from 2020, while a tighter limit of 0.1% will apply from 2015 to ships operating in ‘sulphur emission control areas’ (SECAs), which include the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the English Channel.

“The installation of Wärtsilä exhaust gas cleaning systems to control emissions is critical to our overall environmental objectives,” explained Mr Enrico Allieri, Technical Director at Ignazio Messina. ”We are now fully prepared for the future global IMO and local EU requirements. These regulations will have a dramatic impact on the industry.”